FILE PHOTO - Chris Lemons
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Emily Dahl Foundation
November 02, 2022 - 9:26 AM
A Scottish north sea diver is sharing his near-death experience in Vernon next month as a way to help locals cope with death.
It was 2012 when diver Chris Lemons cheated death after a catastrophic computer failure saw his boat drift away and his oxygen supply cut off while diving.
Video Credit: Rever Offshore
Rever Offshore Lifeline
He lay almost 100 metres under the surface, resigned to ending his days in the dark water. But the miracle of his colleagues' superhuman efforts to save him and his body lasting 35 minutes on a six-minute emergency air tank, saw him not only living to resume his diving job and marry his fiancée, but to suffer no ill effects from a lack of oxygen.
After watching Lemons' documentary Last Breath on Netflix, Vernon’s Emily Dahl Foundation founder Sherman Dahl, reached out to the diver and invited him to speak in Vernon.
Dahl, who lost his 18-year-old daughter Emily to suicide in 2019, related to Lemons’ experience under the waves.
As a diver himself, Dahl said there was a moment close to the end of the documentary where Lemons is saved and where Lemons told one of his rescuers, who was panicking, “it’s OK, it was like going to sleep.”
“That level of awareness was really ultimate compassion… and isn’t that really what life’s all about?” Dahl said.
With the event, he also hopes it will help attendees cope with death.
“Introspection and meditation on death is something that can help us all, including groups like The Emily Dahl Foundation and Hospice. Why is there crying and concern over death if Chris is telling you ‘it’s OK' and it is not such a terrible experience. This is clearly something to inquire in a deeper way about."
The Last Breath event is raising funds for the North Okanagan Hospice Society. It takes place Nov. 29 at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre from 6 to 9 p.m.. Tickets can be purchased online.
It will also feature dancing "Hope" by Avery and Emi of Accentz Dance Studio, presentation of the Emily Dahl Foundation $5,000 Scholarship to Novah Gardner by Sky Volleyball Club and a wine and cheese with Lemons following the presentation.
The event is also raising funds for the North Okanagan Hospice Society.
— This story was corrected Nov. 4, 2022, to say Dahl lost his daughter in 2019, not 2018 and to clarify one of his quotes.
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